Microsoft Unveils Simplified Office Icons in Major Rebrand

This post summarizes key items from Dezeen’s latest Agenda newsletter and places them in an architectural and engineering context.

It covers Microsoft’s first redesign of its Office icons since 2018. It also highlights Sydney’s Quay Quarter Tower being named a 2025 Earthshot Prize finalist.

The post touches on adaptive re-use by architect Asif Khan and material innovation from Stella McCartney. It explains what Dezeen’s Agenda newsletter offers to professionals tracking design and built-environment trends.

Why Dezeen’s Agenda matters to architects and engineers

Dezeen Agenda curates the week’s most relevant developments in architecture, design, and related industries. For busy professionals, it provides a concise digest that combines aesthetic, technical, and sustainability news.

This information can influence practice, materials selection, and client conversations.

Microsoft’s Office icon redesign: subtle, but significant

Microsoft has refreshed the 10 core Office application icons—the first redesign since 2018. The update replaces rigid forms with softer curves and introduces brighter, gradient-filled colours.

Microsoft describes the change as a “subtle refresh,” signaling continuity rather than a complete brand overhaul.

Design and sustainability headlines from the Agenda

Dezeen’s digest also highlights projects and innovations directly relevant to architecture and sustainability. These stories show how design thinking, adaptive reuse, and material innovation intersect in current practice.

Quay Quarter Tower becomes an Earthshot Prize finalist

The nomination of Sydney’s Quay Quarter Tower for the 2025 Earthshot Prize highlights the project’s role in sustainable urban regeneration. Earthshot recognition rewards impact such as reduced carbon footprints, innovative retrofit strategies, or scalable solutions for city resilience.

For engineers and architects, the tower’s finalist status demonstrates the market’s growing interest in retrofit strategies and the importance of lifecycle carbon accounting in major projects.

Adaptive reuse: Asif Khan’s Soviet-era cinema conversion

Architect Asif Khan’s conversion of a Soviet-era cinema into a cultural centre shows the potential of adaptive reuse. These projects often require creative structural interventions and heritage-sensitive design.

They also need new MEP strategies to meet modern needs. Key lessons include the value of layered narratives and the efficiency of reusing existing structures.

Material innovation: Stella McCartney’s plant-based feathers

Fashion designer Stella McCartney’s debut of a plant-based alternative to feathers points to cross-disciplinary material innovation. Sustainable textiles and bio-based finishes are influencing interior specification and acoustic treatments in public buildings.

Specifying materials with ethical provenance and lower embodied impact is becoming a competitive advantage for architecture practices.

About Dezeen’s newsletters and subscription options

Dezeen Agenda is published every Thursday. It is part of a family of newsletters that deliver curated content on different schedules and themes.

For professionals who want curated insights, these newsletters are a practical way to stay informed.

Other newsletters include:

Subscribers can manage preferences or unsubscribe at any time. Full details are in Dezeen’s privacy notice.

Dezeen’s Agenda provides a compact view on developments that matter to architects and engineers. Stories include updates from software changes to sustainability milestones.

 
Here is the source article for this story: Dezeen Agenda features Microsoft’s rebrand of its Office icons